Ongoing UF Softball Commentary

Florida softball improved to 46-16 by destroying Wisconsin in the Regional finals 11-0 in 5 inning. The Gators outscored their 3 opponents this weekend 28-2 and are awaiting the winner of the Virginia Tech/Kentucky finals to see who they play in the Supers. If Kentucky wins, the Gators host; if VT wins the Gators travel to Blacksburg. Today Florida jumped on the Badgers, who had come from behind to knock out Georgia Tech 7-6, for 10 runs in the top of the first inning, scoring 7 runners before making an out. Florida had 15 hits in the game, led by Hannah Adams 4-4, Skylar Wallace 2-4, 3 RBI, Charla Echols 2-4, 2 RBI, Katie Kistler 1-2, 2 RBI and Reagan Walsh 1-3, 2 RBI. Lexie Delbrey (15-3) threw 4 innings, giving up 3 hits and a walk with 1 K's. Natalie Lugo pitched the 5th to complete the shutout.

 

You are correct. Sorry I left her out.

 

#2 FSU ousted on their home field by Miss. St., who finished 11th in the SEC. Only the 2nd time since the NCAA started seeding Regionals that a 1, 2 or 3 seed didn't win their own Regional. Awesome!
However, the SEC doesn't have much to brag about, especially in regards to matching them with Pac 12 teams.
#6 seed Alabama gets ousted by unseeded Stanford.
#11 seed Tennessee gets eliminated by unseeded Oregon Sr.
#15 seed Missouri gets knocked out by unseeded Arizona.
Plus Oklahoma blasted Texas A&M 20-0 and UCLA is beating up on Ole Miss 9-0.
Only Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi State have advanced to the Super Regionals (Sweet 16)m with Georgia the only team still with a chance and they're losing to Duke 7-5 in the 5th inning. Not a good look for a conference that was given 12 bids in the field of 64.

 

The #12 team in the SEC (Texas A&M) should not have gotten an NCAA bid, IMO. The SEC was overhyped this year because of their tie-in with ESPN. The Pac 12 embarrassed them head to head. We had 12 teams in the tournament and only 3 made it to a Super Regional. The Pac 12 got 7 teams in the NCAA tournament and got 5 to the Super Regionals. The Big 12 got 3 in and all are in a Super Regional. The Big 10 got 7 teams in and only 1 made it to a Super Regional. Obviously, the Big 10 was way over-represented, but the SEC wasn't far behind.

 

You could include Ole Miss & Texas A&M among those being in "prime position", as they made it to the Regional finals and got embarrassed 20-0 & 9-1. Georgia went from a 5-5 tie in the 5th to getting run-ruled in the 6th 13-5. Missouri didn't score a run in 2 games vs. unranked & unseeded Arizona. Powerhouse #6 Alabama didn't score a run in the 2 games they lost to unranked and unseeded Stanford. LSU (tied for 4th in the SEC with UF & KY) got hammered by San Diego St. & eliminated by Cal St. Fullerton, going 0-2. The SEC had a horrible showing in the NCAA tournament this year and could end up only having 1 team in the WCWS. I'm pulling for all 3 in the Supers, but Arkansas is the team that has been the most consistent all year and the best bet to make it. Only the Big 10 had a worse tournament. 3 of the SEC's 5 seeded teams got beat on their home field and only 1 out of 7 unseeded teams advanced. "Prime position" doesn't mean jack - they lost.

 

Florida's 1st Super Regional game at Virginia Tech is Friday at 2 pm on ESPN2. Then Saturday at noon on ESPN. The if necessary game would be Sunday, but the time hasn't been announced yet.

 

I copied and pasted this from another thread. Thanks Wesgators!

Thursday

7:00 PM - ESPN2 - Texas @ Arkansas
9:30 PM - ESPN2 - Clemson @ Oklahoma State

Friday

12:00 PM - ESPNU - Arizona @ MSU
2:00 PM - ESPN2 - FLORIDA @ VPI
4:00 PM - ESPN - Arkansas @ Texas
4:30 PM - ESPN2 - UCF @ Oklahoma
6:00 PM - ESPN2 - Oklahoma State @ Clemson
8:00 PM - ESPNU - Northwestern @ Arizona State
10:30 PM - ESPNU - Oregon State @ Stanford
11:00 PM - ESPN2 - Duke @ UCLA

Saturday

TBD - (if necessary) - Texas @ Arkansas
TBD - (if necessary) - Clemson @ Oklahoma State
12:00 PM - ESPN - VPI @ FLORIDA
2:00 PM - ESPN - Oklahoma @ UCF
4:00 PM - ESPNU - MSU @ Arizona
6:00 PM - ESPNU - Stanford @ Oregon State
8:30 PM - ESPN2 - UCLA @ Duke
11:00 PM - ESPN2 - Arizona State @ Northwestern

 

We're going to have to deal with 2 great pitchers, 1 of whom is one of the best to ever pitch D-1 softball, senior Keely Rochard. She's 25-3, 6 saves, thrown 193.1 innings, 1.70 ERA, 54 walks, 321 K's, only 18 HR's and .170 batting average against. Their #2 is freshman Emma Lemley, 16-5, 3 saves, 134.2 innings, 1.87 ERA, 43 walks, 207 K's, 12 HR's and .176 batting average against.

 

Very true. But we're definitely the underdog here. Not only is Virginia Tech's RPI ranking #3 while ours is #13, their SOS is #5, while ours is #13. During the regular season they swept Clemson, took 2 of 3 from both UCF and FSU, beat Tennessee, Northwestern, Missouri and Kentucky and only lost to Alabama 1-0 and 2-0 very early. They are 11-6 vs. Top 25 teams, 7-1 vs 26-50 teams. We are 13-11 vs. Top 25, 10-3 vs. 26-50. We've played 9 more games than them 46-16 to 45-8. Keely Rochard is a dominant pitcher and we honestly don't have one of those. They have twice as many home runs as us. Our team batting averages are almost identical and we have twice as many stolen bases. We've scored 30 more runs than VT, but again played 9 more games. Their slugging percentage is quite a bit higher than ours. They strike out less than us, but we draw more walks. We've committed 3 fewer errors. They are a legit team and we're going to have to be very disciplined at the plate and take advantage of every scoring opportunity we get, plus hit our spots from the circle and limit free passes if we expect to beat them.